satellite ISP ?????????????

[Captain Virgil Hilts]

I'm looking to get satellite ISP service for my Mom. She has the world's worst phone service, and it keeps her dial up service screwed up constantly. No matter what hardware, software, or anything else we put up there, it will only work for a few weeks, or a few months at best. It doesn't matter how old or new the computer is, what operating system is on it, or what kind of modem is used. Eventually, within a few months at best, the modem will either get mysteriously uninstalled and will be impossible (or at least next to impossible) to reinstall, or the modem will just plain die. I can put the same hardware or software anywhere else and it works great, forever. So I need to find a reliable, affordable satellite ISP for her. She's in southern Kentucky. I use DishNetwork for my TV service and hers, so I called them, and they told me the satellite is "full". Anyone got suggestions for good solid reliable and affordable satellite Internet service?

[JB73]

Originally posted by Captain Virgil Hilts
...solid reliable and affordable satellite Internet service?

umm in a word no.

just as a storm can kill the video, well more so for the internet.

add in the lag, I HOPE you don't plan on actually playing AH with it. dialup would be better. the issue is net lag. the time for a signal to up to the satellite, back down to earth to a real line, then back, we are talking 2200 MS minimum IIRC. thats 2.2 seconds.


I actually spent some time talking to a sat tech about this very topic not to long ago. there is the insane added cost of the equipment, like $500 + then the reliability, and then the monthly cost upwards of $80 and possibly more depending on provider.




personally I'd highly recommend against it unless you have no other option, others may disagree, but thats just my impression.

[Gunslinger]

I allways see adds for "Hughesnet" or something but I think that's a directv spinn off.

Do you get cell service in the area?  You can get broadband over wireless pretty cheap nowadays.

[Captain Virgil Hilts]

Again, this is NOT for ME. It is for my Mom. DSL and cable are NOT available. Cell service is marginal at best.

She isn't going to be on the computer in a storm, she shuts everything down in a storm. She's 73, gaming is not an interest of hers, and I don't fool with AH when I'm up there. She just wants decent service she can count on to be up more than 10% of the time, and longer than about 6 months without being screwed up completely. It's a 60 mile one way trip for me to go up there, if I have time, to go all the way through her computer and stuff to get it to work. For 6 months at best, for two weeks or less often.

Just this year, in the spring,  I built her a brand new up to date computer, with GOOD stuff in it, and a brand new Zoom external modem. She's had less than 120 days of service in more than six months time. It's not her, and it's not the equipment, it's the damned phone exchange, it's junk. The best and most expensive stuff won't get you better than 33K if things are perfect. Stuff I've used everywhere else with ZERO problems dies in less than a year up there.

[culero]

Have you considered that it might be voltage surges causing the problems with the modems? Analog phone lines have line voltage, ISDN lines do not. I do know that back in the day, I had incredibly bad phone lines - best ever 26.6 on a great day, normally 19.2, with craptastic lag etc and yes I was using good externals all tweaked out - but when I went to ISDN all my problems went away. Its worth thinking about. The modem will be expensive but single channel service shouldn't be too much. Look into it.

[Gunslinger]

I might be out there but even if the phone service is that bad I can't see it breaking modems unless she's seeing major power surges over the line itself.  That might be easily fixed by a phone line conditioner that would filter out all the bad stuff.  Not even sure if they still sell those at radio shack.

[bj229r]

Originally posted by Gunslinger
I allways see adds for "Hughesnet" or something but I think that's a directv spinn off.

Do you get cell service in the area?  You can get broadband over wireless pretty cheap nowadays.

We looked into it, and it's only about 4-5 times aster than dial-up, and ALSO has a 'maximum' amount of bandwidth allotted to each subscriber throughout the day..after that, you are forced down to dial-up speeds. (neighbor has it) For $70 a month

edit--likely none of the above would be a hindrance for Savage's Mom I'd expect

[Captain Virgil Hilts]

Mom wouldn't really care if it wasn't much better than 56K, IF she could get something reliable. They don't offer ISDN service in her area. She lives out in the country with the Mennonites, even my cell phone that gets a good signal near anywhere doesn't work well at her house. Their phone lines are really crappy. Like I said, I looked at DishNetwork, if they had open space on the satellite, it'd be cheap at $49 a month. Even if I had to buy $200 worth of equipment. Just to have her have a solid reliable connection that I didn't have to fight with on a monthly basis would be worth it.

[ROC]

Consider my opinion based on the following.  I had DSL for a year.  Cable now for a couple of years.

The office has no DSL or Cable so line of sight and Sat. were both used.

From all this, if you Can't have Cable (choice 1) or DSL (choice 2) and since you have poor cell signal I'll assume you won't find a line of site microwave based system, Sat. will work just fine.

It will probably be a decent connect with dish network, but from strictly a service point of view, being a prior customer of theirs, I would suggest earthlink first.

They should be able to get you the same signal, perhaps cheaper equipment but much more reliable service.  I lost a modem with earthlink, they didn't blink and simply Brought out another, didn't mail it, sent a truck that day.  Dish network fought with me for 2 weeks over a TV box that went out.  They said $350.00 to do a service call, I said no, it was their signal that was bad as each of my 9 neighbors had the same issues on the same stations, they argued.  After 2 weeks it cleared up, same day, for all of us.  I promptly yanked them and told them to stuff it.

Dish net is fine While it works, you'll regret it if it fails.  earthlink for sat. connection imho.

[Captain Virgil Hilts]

I looked at Earthlink, I have Earthlink as my ISP, and I love it. But their satellite service is twice as high as DishNetwork. I'm not saying money is the only issue here, but it'd be nice to keep the other $50 a month.

[LePaul]

Maverick has spoken highly of his satellite internet connections in the past.

As '73 said, for gaming, the latency would be terrible.  (Well, it would be great for the player, anyone trying to shoot that player down would see one heck of a warpy target.)

Based on the needs she has, Mav should be able to suggest something.

[Maverick]

Virgil,

I'm an RV hughesnet installer. Your Mom needs to call hughesnet and get signed up for that service. If she has a wall of the house with a clear shot to the Southern sky the antenna can be mounted there just like the TV style. It's a larger dish and unit however. If she does not have that situation a vertical pole will need to be set up in the yard. The pole will have to be plumb for the dish and fairly stout.

There is no software installed on the computer. It's all in the modem and once set up is a true plug and play system. Like all satellite communications it can be interfered by weather. Either at the unit site or the main down link. It's a good system and I've been using it constantly for over 3 years all across the country. I'm sending this via that system right now.

If you want I can give you my number via PM and talk to you.

[JB73]

as you said, if its just for her, well, it is all about cost.


check into the local market, see what the actual up front hardware costs are, what the monthly charges are, and balance it out.




if it is only 2x dialup, well... a decision has to be made. is the cost worth the upgrade?


thats about all I can offer. and good luck.

[rpm]

Virgil, check on microwave service. Highspeed, more reliable than satellite and less expensive. SpeedNet has pretty good coverage.

[Captain Virgil Hilts]

Thanks guys. I'm going up today, after I close the shop. I'm going to try to get the dial up working, but I'm also going to go to the "semi" local electronics stores about 30 miles away and see what they have. Evidently they have the equipment for some of the satellite based services and for buying the equipment and selling it retail they get space reserved for the service. I'll check back here when I get home from the shop before I head out.